Dulac Community Center celebrates 80 years

Monday

Jan 7, 2013 at 11:44 AM

More than 80 years ago, Methodist missionaries founded a small Native American school in Dulac.

Nikki BuskeyStaff Writer

More than 80 years ago, Methodist missionaries founded a small Native American school in Dulac.Run out of a plantation overseer’s home by a teacher named Wilhelmina Hooper, the goal was to provide an education for the Native American children who were not allowed to attend public schools. But that school would evolve into a multi-service organization providing social services, emergency relief, education and recreation for residents of lower Dulac and a community center that welcomed the area’s Native American residents.The Dulac Community Center celebrated its 80th anniversary in 2012, though a planned celebration was canceled by Hurricane Isaac in August. Officials say they hope to mark the occasion with another event later this year.“You can go talk to any of the Indian people, and their lives have been touched one way or another by the community center,” said Louise Billiot, a counselor with the United Houma Nation and a member of the Dulac Community Center’s board for more than 15 years.Billiot recalls attending preschool and kindergarten classes at the center. Later, while attending public school, she returned to the center with her brothers and sisters to participate in activities such as girls’ and boys’ clubs, summer Bible school, painting, skating and field trips.“Our Indian people were not welcomed other places back then,” Billiot said. “We would have missed out on a lot of things that were open to other people because of hatred and ignorance.”The Dulac Community Center started as a school 1932, said Joyce Thibodeaux, its current board chairwoman. In Terrebonne Parish, as in much of the South, schools were segregated racially by law, but there were only schools for white and black children. There were no public schools for Native American children in the parish until 1953, Thibodeaux said.The center’s first classes were held Oct. 1, 1932, with 75 students ages 6-20. They all started in first grade because none had attended school before. Hooper taught the classes out of her home.Corine Paulk of Dulac was one of Hooper’s students and said she would take a boat across the bayou to school each day with her siblings. In an essay about Hooper, Paulk recalled the uncertainty of her first day at school. The Native American children spoke only French and had been sheltered from the general public. Hooper spoke English, and Paulk describes her as a “tough but fair” teacher who immersed herself in the Native American community that she lived in for 33 years.She kept baskets of clothes needy children could go through and would give community members milk from two cows she kept on her property. She would cut the milk with water to make sure there was enough to go around.In 1950, a building was constructed to house the private Native American school. When the Terrebonne Parish School Board opened the first public Indian school in 1953, that building was converted into a community center, providing kindergarten, adult-literacy and religious classes, dances, movies, crafts and youth programs.

‘NEAR AND DEAR’Like other Native Americans, Paulk, a Houma Indian, had to leave Louisiana to attend a private girls’ school in Georgia to finish high school. Community center staff members wrote her letters every week while she was away, and she later returned to work as a secretary and teach kindergarten there.Billiot said one of the most important things was that it was a welcoming place during a time of racial discrimination. The center hosted activities open to everyone; it was a place Native Americans could gather when they weren’t welcome elsewhere.“It’s near and dear to my heart, and it will be forever for what it contributed to my family,” Billiot said.Current Executive Director John Silver said the center’s mission remains rooted in education, offering after-school tutoring and a GED program.“We are always mindful of the role education plays in the community and how it helps to lift up the people,” Silver said.The center has evolved to meet other goals, providing emergency relief, social services and recreational opportunities. A mission program brings volunteers from across the country to do hurricane recovery and other needed repairs to homes in the community. They also distribute food and other household commodities to families in need.

‘VERY BLESSED’Silver, 32, is himself a product of the center. He grew up in Dulac and attended preschool and Bible school there. At 16, he got his first job at the center. And at 21, he returned to serve as interim director and also served two years on its board.“I’ve been someone that has received the services, served on the board and been part of the organization. I’ve seen all sides,” Silver said. “I think we kind of take this place for granted in Dulac. We’re very blessed and fortunate to have it.”The center’s nonprofit organization leases the building from the United Methodist Women and relies on donations and grants to operate. It receives no government money.“In the field of nonprofits, you have to stay current and evolve,” Silver said. “In the beginning, education was our priority. Later, we took up the social needs of the community. We’re still the only nonprofit for 20 miles, and we’ve maintained our presence here for 80 years. We evolve based on what the community tells us they need.”So what do the next 80 years hold?Silver said the Dulac Community Center has always served residents’ needs, and the mission is up to them.“We want the community to drive what happens with this place,” Silver said.

Staff Writer Nikki Buskey can be reached at 857-2205 or nicole.buskey@houmatoday.com.